How To Beat The Fear That Is Causing You To Fail

Regular readers of the Lowedown, especially those who followed the tales of my exploits 'down under' last year, will know I can be a little less than brave when confronted by a spider. Not the little 'money spider' types, but the rather larger ones that lurk in the corner of cupboards and bathrooms and make themselves apparent when you are least expecting it and usually holding something both valuable and fragile.

It is not the fear of our eight legged friends however, that is likely to stifle your online endeavors (unless of course there is a particularly large one lurking in the corner above your computer);-) it will instead be the fear of 'failing' and the embarrassment, humiliation and criticism we think will follow.

It is no coincidence, I think, that nearly everybody I am aware of that you and I would consider 'successful' are largely unaffected (at least in business terms) by what others think of them, and have developed a 'shatterproof' confidence that shuts the fear of criticism away.

Successful people recognize that opportunity and risk are inseparable, and that failure is an inherent part of the process. In fact I would go as far as to say that I have made more mistakes in this business than many people who have proclaimed themselves to be complete failures and thrown the towel in.

Remember, it is the fear of what might happen that stops us from taking action or seizing that opportunity, and it is typical that many of us can clearly visualize in graphic detail the 'fallout' of it all going 'pear shaped' considerably more easily than we can the rewards of things going exactly to plan.

In my experience, most of what we fear could go wrong never actually does (though I would also like point out that words 'preparation' and 'planning' are a major factor in this and we should trust to optimism alone) and what actually does go wrong, usually at least, isn't quite as bad as we might have feared.

I would encourage you then, while considering the possibilities of your next project or venture, that you picture yourself actually succeeding rather than reeling off a list of reasons of why it would never work (and if you're honest with yourself it's probably the same list that you've applied to almost any and all situations over the last few years) you may well find it was all that was missing…